Can You Imagine A World Without Magic?
by meyoki54
Summary: Dusty shelves that had barely been cleaned though their lifetime were the only witnesses to the evil crime that had been committed on that horrible December day…


**_Can you imagine a world without magic?_**

Dusty shelves that had barely been cleaned though their lifetime were the only witnesses to the evil crime that had been committed on that horrible December day…

XXX

_**Forgiveness is a hard thing to give away**_

"Harry where are we going?" Ron asked loudly

Harry span around and dragged Ron into an alleyway seizing him by the front of his hand-me-down robes.

"Ron shut your mouth before we get caught!" Harry shoved him angrily "I knew I shouldn't have let you come, you'll end up ruining it"

"Ruining what?" Ron asked a little more quietly than his previous question

Harry let go of his friend's robes, looking around heavily.

"You'll see when we get there" Harry answered slipping on his hooded cloak and back out of the alleyway.

Ron stood there momentarily wondering whether he should continue. When he thought about it Harry had been acting strangely lately.

Watching the end of Harry's cloak disappear Ron made a quick decision to follow in his friends wake disappearing into the darkness.

"Hermione did tell me to keep a close eye on him…."

XXX

_**Paranoia anyone?**_

Meanwhile at the Weasley burrow Hermione and Ginny sat worriedly waiting for any sign of the boys.

"They just left, without any explanation as to where they were going!" Ginny got up from her seat, now pacing. "No note, wands gone!"

Hermione laughed

"Ginny you are starting to sound like your mother when Harry and Ronald took that flying car of theirs"

Ginny face lightened a bit

"I am starting to sound like her aren't I?"

Hermione nodded while Ginny laughed at the prospect of becoming her mother.

"Now I know where she was coming from, having to deal with all of us must have killed her!"

The girls laughed, reminiscing of the good times when they attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchery. Now they were adults, completely capable of looking after themselves. Although Ron needed some protecting of his own sometimes when a spider decided to nestle in the top left corner of his room staring at him with its eight eyes. But apart from that all four were adults now and able to enjoy no limitations of using magic, after all they were no longer underage wizards.

"Can you imagine we would be here after school all of us still together, getting the boys of our dreams" Ginny sighed

"What do you mean?" Hermione replied with a quizzical look

"Well" Ginny thought "You have Ron and I Have Harry and we are still the best of friends even after this long"

Hermione sighed

This isn't where she thought she would be in five years, she thought she would be a potions master by now and finding a cure for Lupin's 'hairy little problem.' After all he was like a father to her and if she'd had accomplished that she would surely be written into the magical hall of fame. But after Ron proposed to her she wasn't sure what she wanted to do anymore, she knew Ron wanted a family and to settle down so she went along with it, forgetting her dreams and aspirations in the process, now she was just a housewife. She would have to have a talk with him after they came back from wherever they were….

"Hermione are you with me here?" Ginny was bent over Hermione waving her arms to get her attention.

"Err. Yeah just thinking" Hermione answered quickly

"That was strange" Ginny said with a laugh "Thought I'd lost you then"

Hermione looked around and got up from her chair, fixing her skirt riddled with crinkles.

"Umm Ginny?" Hermione asked cautiously studying Ginny face.

"Yes Hermione?"

"Speaking of strange, have you noticed anything strange about Harry lately?"

Ginny seemed to have stopped moving for a second as if she was unsure of what to do next. Getting up from her own chair she hurried off to the kitchen to wash her coffee mug she used that morning.

"How do you mean" Ginny replied shakily

"Ginny is there something you want to tell me?" Hermione asked carefully

Ginny took a deep breath in placing the cup on the wash board she traced her steps back to her chair.

"Do you remember the incident 6 months ago?" Ginny started slowly

Hermione nodded, careful not to break the momentum.

"Well after he and Ron came back, he seemed a little changed…" Ginny choked back tears "For the first two months he would hardly speak to me when we were alone, after the he wouldn't even touch me. His whole outlook seemed to have changed for the worst, he became detached and cold"

Ginny couldn't stop the tears from spilling onto her cheeks, her hands came up to her face to wipe them away but they just keep flowing.

Hermione grabbed the packet of tissues from her bag and couched at Ginny's side.

"Ginny you weren't the only one to notice, Ron and I have been seeing these things too, and we just didn't know how to respond." Hermione said quietly

Ginny dabbed at her eyes vigorously.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I shouldn't be loading this onto you" Ginny sniffed "It's just I have no idea what happened when he was away, I just don't know how to help him."

XXX

**_I remembered what you said._**

Two sets of footsteps echoed though the streets of Nocturne Alley.

Ron was just a little distance behind Harry shadowing his every move until he finally closed the gap and spoke in a low muttered voice.

"Harry, it's about time you told me what we are doing here for."

Harry continued walking at his brisk set pace, turning a little to see Ron's face.

"Ron, remember in our second year at Hogwarts? When we stole the flying car off your parents to get into school because we missed the train?"

Ron screwed his face up in thought, cocking one eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, and we thought we were going to be in so much trouble when the rat faced, greasy haired Snape caught us." Ron laughed quietly "Yeah I remember that."

"And do you also remember when I was stalked by the so called 'Harry Potter Fan Club.'"

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Ugh. That was so disturbing, all those little vermin following you around all day wanting pictures and autographs all the time, disgusting."

Harry then stopped and moved to a place in the shadows as did Ron and until they were both concealed from sight.

"And do you remember one boy who kept taking my photo at every moment of everyday at unexpected times?" Harry said slowly hushing his voice.

"Oh yeah, what was his name, Locklin Freebie.? No. that wasn't right, Maglocklin Steely. No that's wasn't it either…what was his name.?"

Harry decided to put Ron out of his misery.

"Colin Creevy."

"Yes. Yes that was my next guess, I totally knew that one" Ron changed the subject "So, what about Creevy?"

"Well in our third year, something just wasn't up with him, I thought the fanaticism was going to leave him behind when he grew up a little, you know, drop the camera and start acting a little more mature and let me be for a while."

Ron was making little sounds like "Ooo.", "Uhuh." and "Yep." Unfortunately he had no clue where this was going, but pretended he did, although Harry could see this and decided to make it simpler.

"Colin Creevy was working for Voldemort." Harry blatantly stated.

Ron pulled his head to the side and drew his arm up to fit below his chin, looking like one of them old characters in the muggle detective movies his father was obsessed with.

"So you're saying that all along he was trying to kill you posing as a student at Hogwarts?" Ron concluded.

Harry smiled a little at Ron's attempt.

"No not necessarily not to kill me, but I do believe that he was reporting to Voldemort or Wormtail about me and sending those pictures of me to them so they could ultimately spy on me and learn more about me or find out my weaknesses, you know monitor me were they couldn't get in but he could…"

Ron light flicked on in his brain or what was left of it anyway.

"Now that you mention it, this kind of makes sense."


End file.
